Sewing

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Busy Creating: Halloween Costumes

I wanted to get these up before Halloween, in case anyone needed a last minute idea, but with my wrist and all, the costumes didn't even all get finished until 5 AM on Halloween morning. I usually like to do a theme for our whole family's costumes - makes for an interesting Christmas card. This year, however, with the unpacking, my wrist, the baby, etc., I was't even sure I'd be able to make one costume. I knew I wanted to do something with Angry Birds this year because my kids played it a LOT on my dad's ipad and think it's really fun. I searched online for Angry Bird costume ideas and I found a tutorial on twin dragonfly designs blog that I really liked and seemed easy enough to do with my limited time.

My oldest son was so indecisive about a costume this year, at one point, he mentioned not even dressing up (unheard of!). In my search for Angry Bird costumes, I found this page with some cool cartoon spoofs of Angry Bird Superheroes. I knew instantly that I wanted to make us Angry Bird-like costumes, but of our favorite characters. As soon as I mentioned to my son that I would make him Angry Mario, he was all for it. I wasn't sure how my design would come out, but he was absolutely thrilled!

The Angry Spiderbird was supposed to be for my second oldest son, but he insisted on being Darth Vader. As soon as he saw the completed outfit, complete with the hat and gloves I found at Kohl's, he decided he would be that next year. And Owen insisted I could not color the spider in black, but had to leave it as an outline. All the webs were done with a sharpie.

As a rule, I don't download games onto my phone for the kids to play, but since I was busy making the costumes, I downloaded Angry Bird Seasons to keep Hazel occupied. The new character Balloon Bird is soooo awesome, I had to make it for Maeve!

I liked the look of Batbird, so I made them for the adults. I wasn't going for cheesy cute, honestly.

Two of my kids insisted on being something different and I just didn't have time to make their costumes, you'll know who, when you see the pictures. Actually, Rapunzel tried to get me to make hers, but my rotary cutter was nowhere to be found (and my confidence to make a beautiful princess dress has yet to be found too).

The tutorial was easy to follow, I opted to sew on all the features, so they would stand the test of time. If you ever make these, you can hot glue them (I still haven't even unpacked mine actually). I only sewed the front and back together at the shoulders, so it was kind of like a smock- but it was easy to get in and out of- it will make what I have to show you tomorrow all the more easy- so stay tuned for how to repurpose these costumes into something useful for your kids (homemade Christmas idea).

This was my kids' first real Halloween in the US and it was a total blast!